Poverty begins to bite in GermanyAlmost a sixth of the German population is living below the poverty line, according to the country's Federal Statistics Bureau. The bureau on Monday reported on its website that about 13 million people, or 16.1% of the population, earns less than 60% of the average earning of the entire population.

Child poverty on the rise, even in rich EU countriesA new report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) shows that 2.6 million children have sunk below the poverty line in the world's most affluent countries since the crisis fist broke in 2008, bringing the total number of children in the developed world living in poverty to an estimated 76.5 million.

Each of those 9,000 cancelled flight segments in the past 30 days cost the airlines an average of $5,770 and that runs to a total of nearly $52 million for just the past 30 days. And that's during a time of the year when the weather is not particularly nasty.Air Malta registers €16.2 million losses

Big changes in US heating oil (Platts video)Sulfur levels used in heating oil in the US Northeast are tightening and about to get tighter. Some of these new restrictions requiring states to cut the maximum sulfur content in home heating oil by 75% will be in full force this winter. John Kingston, director of news, and David Henry, associate editor, US diesels, discuss how the restrictions could affect distribution companies and the potential affect of a supply squeeze on diesel.

Report Reveals Wider Tracking of Mail in USIn a rare public accounting of its mass surveillance program, the United States Postal Service reported that it approved nearly 50,000 requests last year from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to secretly monitor the mail of Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations.

Italy is in full collapse, with all economic and financial indicators in decline. Industries are closing down and restaurants are opening; the system is trying to adapt by tapping the remaining available resources in the form of foreign tourists.

US States Slashing Education SpendingState-level K-12 education spending has fallen dramatically in many states since 2008. In that time, 29 states cut per pupil spending, shifting the burden of financing education to local school districts and, in many instances, forcing schools to cut costs and even teachers.

Sheriff defends using officers, armored truck in seizureMarathon County authorities acted appropriately when they sent two dozen officers and an armored vehicle to seize property from an elderly couple in the town of Stettin, Sheriff Scott Parks said Monday in response to critics.

Cities Rebel Against Federal Immigration Enforcement ProgramsA growing number of U.S. cities are rebelling loudly and clearly against a federal program designed to streamline the deportation of immigrants in the criminal justice system. From Miami to San Diego to Chicago, cities are simply refusing to hand over immigrants to federal authorities unless there is a court order for their arrest.

Bank auto lending has grown at a compounded annual rate of 20% since 2007, "significantly outpacing" the growth of even red-hot mortgages, credit cards, and lines of credit, according to the ratings agency report released Thursday. In seven years, vehicle loans have jumped from $16.2- billion to $64-billion.

India closer to real-time surveillance of India-Sino borderSurveillance cameras with a depth of view extending over 20 kilometers into Chinese territory have been equipped by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police a month after the People's Liberation Army entered the disputed regions of Demchok and Chumar in Ladakh, reports the New Delhi-based Times of India.

The Ukraine has not replied to a single query on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that crashed in the country's east after apparently being shot down, Russia's Permanent Representative at the UN Vitaly Churkin has said.

US-Israel relations in 'crisis' after Moshe Ya'alon snubbedIsrael's relations with its key ally, the United States, have hit a new low after the Obama administration snubbed Moshe Ya'alon, the hard-line Israeli defence minister, on a visit to Washington as punishment for past criticisms of White House policy.

The slide in oil prices has raised speculation that oil companies in the U.S. could be forced to cut back on production, but a market slump in another commodity is also putting pressure on producers. Coal markets are currently experiencing a supply glut that is showing no signs of recovery.

Even as relations between Russia and the U.S. have sunk to a post-Cold War low over the crisis in Ukraine, the two powers have come together to press their shared interest in resisting more stringent safety guidelines, said the diplomats. The U.S. is the world's biggest nuclear-power generator, while Russia exports more reactors than anyone else.

We have very serious problems in our natural gas supply. Even if we do not have any political friction with Ukraine or Russia, in the days when temperatures drop below -5 °C our natural gas demand will not be met.

Although a bit long, this is very interesting and informative if you are interested in the process of collapse. Although I agree that "this time is different" certainly cannot be a reason for supposing that industrial civilization won't collapse like all previous civilizations, in the case of industrial civilization there are some unprecedented differences (call them "this-time-is-different factors" if you like) that could accelerate collapse and make it much worse. First, there are far more humans than before, making for a population that is both dense and highly mobile. That is why Ebola could readily expand into a global pandemic. It's also why a crop failure, or just the inability to deliver food when and where it's needed, could starve millions in no time. Second, industrial civilization is global in scale, and everything is tightly networked and optimized. The system is complex and fragile. Trade and finance are woven into this system, which is becoming increasingly digitized, making it highly vulnerable to power outages, server problems, hacking and other sabotage, natural disasters, or many other kinds of disruptive events. Third, industrial civilization has found and largely consumed the high-grade resources, forcing us to move on to lower-grade, more expensive resources. Fourth, ecosystems are under heavy attack and being rapidly degraded. Fifth, climate change is putting further stress on societies and economies. Sixth, economies are wheezing under a crushing debt load that grows heavier daily. Because the economy grows by expanding debt, governments have no choice but to keep piling it on. These and other factors create a toxic brew that could explode into planetary chaos at any time, resulting in catastrophic disruption and the deaths of billions. Have a nice day! -- RF

Tokyo govt to issue foreign currency debtThe Tokyo metropolitan government said it will switch part of its planned ¥20 billion's worth of debt securities for retail investors into Australian dollar-denominated notes.